Recently, there has been developed a continuous method for manufacturing pencils. A casing or sheathing composition is continuously extruded over a marking core of a pigmented or colored lead or a graphite lead. The leads may be cut to length and fed in end-to-end abutting relation, or preferably, the lead may be continuously extruded to receive thereon the co-extrusion of the casing composition. The continuous length or extrudate of pencil material is coated with a lacquer or paint, and then must be cut into predetermined lengths.
In order to realize the greatest advantages of the operations of extrusion and coating the extrudate, it is desirable that the cutting of the coated extrudate be accomplished continuously at a constant, uniform and rapid rate without injury to the surface of the coated extrudate.
Moreover, the necessity to provide a plurality of coatings to the extrudate with intermediate drying operations necessitates that the extrudate have substantial length before it reaches the cutting apparatus. This imposes an undue burden upon the extruder to alone advance the extrudate. Accordingly, it is desirable that the apparatus for cutting also function to exert a uniform pull upon the extrudate in addition to holding the extrudate firmly as it is being cut to uniform and exact lengths.